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Vista & Office 2003 Security

microsoft.public.windows.vista.security

I write VBA macros and have digitaly signed (self certificate) my macros
(on my old XP system). Now I want to run them on Vista using Excel 2003
and other office programs. But I have not been able to get the Excel
Security warning Box to go away. The "Always trust macros from this
publisher" is grayed out. I have added myself to the list of trusted
publishers, but that did not do any good. My security level is Medium,
and my trust access to VB project option is checked in Excel.

I just want to be able to open my files without the security warning
box (enable/disable macros). I want them to run automatically like they
did in XP. Of course without setting the security level to low.

The list of trusted sources might be locked Your system administrator
might have locked your list of trusted sources so that you cannot add new
macro developers to it.

The certificate for the source may not be authenticated. You can only add
certificates to your list of trusted sources if they have been
authenticated. Note that certificates created with the Selfcert.exe tool are
considered to be unauthenticated and can only be added to the list of
trusted sources on the computer on which they were created.

Because a digital certificate that you create isn't issued by a formal
certificate authority, macro projects that are signed by using such a
certificate are referred to as self-signed projects. Microsoft Office trusts
a self-signed certificate only on a computer that has that certificate in
your Personal Certificates store.
To view the certificate in the Personal Certificates store, do the
following:

1.. Open Windows Internet Explorer.
2.. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Content
tab.
3.. Click Certificates, and then click the Personal tab.

"GetAGrip" <GetAGrip.369o00@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:GetAGrip.369o00@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> I write VBA macros and have digitaly signed (self certificate) my macros
> (on my old XP system). Now I want to run them on Vista using Excel 2003
> and other office programs. But I have not been able to get the Excel
> Security warning Box to go away. The "Always trust macros from this
> publisher" is grayed out. I have added myself to the list of trusted
> publishers, but that did not do any good. My security level is Medium,
> and my trust access to VB project option is checked in Excel.
>
> I just want to be able to open my files without the security warning
> box (enable/disable macros). I want them to run automatically like they
> did in XP. Of course without setting the security level to low.
>
>
>
>
> --
> GetAGrip

I am running Office 2003 SP3, as an administrator, and did sucessfully
add the certificate. That just did not stop the message boxes. Are you
telling me that Microsoft has created an O/S and Office package where
there is no way to allow a self signed macro to run silently (after the
first time). I will acknowledge the need to always ask the question
once.

So if I write a macro at work and store it on the server and run it
from two different computers it will always ask me to enable/disable the
macros unless I pay somebody $400+, or set the security to Low?

No other options??? Every time the same stupid question? No ability
to add a known to me (but unverified - not known to Microsoft)
certificate.

This seems insane to me. I understand the security concerns, but
leaving me the choice between the habit of ignoring security boxes
because they are unnecessarily routine, setting the security level to
Low, and paying somebody $400+ is a huge problem waiting for somebody to
take advantage of it.

I just want to have the ability to trust certificates from people I
actually do know. Does Microsoft think I (really some of the average
people) am too stupid to properly handle the power? Or, are they of the
opinion that only professional programmers should be allowed to have the
privilege of this learned certificates?

Surely, Microsoft understands the consequences of giving their users
only bad options. That is how they loose market share. I like Excel,
and a secure computer, but unnecessary furstrations like these where it
appear that Microsoft cares more about $ than anything else causes me to
want to fix open office so it is better than Excel (which sadly will
probably take a lot of work).

I had the option in Windows XP to solve the problem, as described. Has
Microsoft determined that in an effort to fight viruses the public
cannot be trusted to decided which digital signatures are worthy of
being trusted without displaying a message each and every time? There
is a "human factors" reason for this clearly being a bad idea.

Human Factors - Human Factors in engineering. They are design flaws
that exist as a result of the fact that people act like people not
computers and robots. They have caused jumbo jets to crash on many
occasions. So you can't call them insignificant or just ignore them and
expect people to act perfectly all the time. You have to plan for
people to make mistakes when you put them in situations where mistakes
are caused over time by the poor design. Specifically, in this
instance, the repeated asking of a quesion that has been already
answered.